The 2004 Adventure, February 1 to 5, 2004, We are IN Texas

February 1, 2004

More quiet days, we visited with some of the other campers, even had dinner with them.

February 2, 2004

Rained last night, so we are very slow getting packed up and out of camp, plus we are facing pulling out of this very close fitting campsite. Even dumping here is a challenge of trees, curving roads and an oddly set up dump station.

We stopped at the Welcome Center for Texas, it had a very interesting board walk, we looked over part of it, and realizing the time decided we better get moving. Found a Flying J for lunch, had their buffet lunch, and continued down I 10 towards Houston.

We hit Houston between 3 and 3:30 (already the start of rush hour), took the north 610 around the downtown area, and the I 10 out of Houston towards the west. Past Katy and on to San Felipe (the old colonial capital of Texas according to the signs). We are staying at the Stephen F. Austin State Park. It is a small park, but has full hookups, and all sites are pull throughs. The first two sites we checked out had bad electric, always pays to check before you unhook. There are a lot of deer here, they are almost friendly, not afraid to come out of hiding even in the middle of the day. The deer are small (like the ones from Virginia).

Today we see our first convertible car with top down, first mosquito (and the booger bit me too), our first swimming pool being cleaned for use at a hotel, first daffodil in bloom.

February 3, 2004

Dave and Marilyn Saunders come to visit for the afternoon, we go out to dinner, and have a fabulous visit. What a NICE day!!

This state park has many deer. They are not one bit shy, walking and feeding where ever they want, at any time of the day. At dusk we have a herd of about 20 within 100 feet of the trailer. The deer are smaller than our Michigan deer.

Kerry wins in several of the primaries and caucus votes held today around the US. We do not have cable here, so it is a bit harder to follow the news.

February 4, 2004

Dave comes back and takes us into Sealy (where they used to make the Sealy Mattress) for breakfast. Good food, great service. Marilyn was playing tennis, we missed ya girl! But thanks for the GREAT cookies you made us and sent along. YUM YUM YUM!

Spent the afternoon at a large RV dealer, wanted to see some new Montana models we have heard about, but they did not have them. Also need some light bulbs, but, they did not have them in stock. A run over to Wall Mart for some supplies and then back to the campground.

They are predicting rain for the night, possibly as much as 8 inches! I am stunned with the amount they have talked about. We stopped at the campground office and asked about their emergency plans and about flood warnings. They state that the campground will not flood with 8 inches of rain, hard to believe isn’t it??

My grandmother Trumbo lived on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River for many years, and her warnings about flooding came to mind. OK, I’ll fess up, I spent a rather nervous evening, yep, worrying about the amounts of rain.

SIGH, we only got 1.5 inches. What a relief.

February 5, 2004

The morning is gray, we decide to stay one more day here, not one bit interested in driving in any more rain (possible, but did not develop) or encountering any flooding (also possible, but did not develop). After laying around, doing a few household chores, we go out in search of the library in Sealy.

We asked 3 people before we found anyone who knew where the library was. Not sure what that says about the reading habits of Sealy.

The internet connection was very slow, but I managed to get some of the email caught up. Al made some calls looking for our next campgrounds. We are heading towards the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, hoping to finally find some really warm weather. We have been on the road for nearly 3 weeks, and have had only one day of over 70 degree weather. It has been particularly cold every where in the US, I think they said it was about 10 degrees below the normal here.

This afternoon I finished crocheting a blanket to donate to Yorkie rescue. I will mail it off when we return to Michigan.